COLLINS URGES FLEXIBILITY IN DRAFTING GROUNDFISHING RULES

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senator Susan Collins is urging fellow New Englander and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card to join her in an effort to persuade the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to provide flexibility to a council formulating new ground fishing regulations. The council is currently evaluating four alternative drafts of new ground fishing regulations, one of which will ultimately govern the fishery as of May 1, 2004.

"Any of the four proposals that the New England Fishery Management Council is currently formulating will wreak havoc on New England's fishing communities," said Collins. "The survival of New England's fishing heritage is in question if any of the alternatives in Amendment 13 takes effect. Amendment 13 will destroy the fishing industry in order to save it."

Collins is urging Card, a Massachusetts native, to persuade NMFS to allow the Council to "mix and match" elements of the four draft proposals in order to formulate a reasonable fisheries management plan. She also encouraged him to persuade NMFS to examine the biomass numbers that it is advocated for groundfish rebuilding targets. She noted that these target numbers are set above anything ever recorded in the history of the ground fishing industry.

"The stakes are too high to constrain the Council with matters of procedure. It is in all of our interest to ensure that Amendment 13 is a product that we can accept as reasonable. A unique way of life is hanging in the balance."